The first game in the ''Franchise/StarOcean'' series, ''Star Ocean'' was originally released for the Super Famicom; that version was [[NoExportForYou never ported to the West]], though {{Fan Translation}}s exist. SquareEnix [[VideoGameRemake remade]] this game for the [=PSP=]; this remake, subtitled ''First Departure'', was released in the US and UK in October 2008. It tells the tale of a young boy named Ratix Farrence from the planet Roak (most of whose inhabitants have tails and [[UnusualEars pointed ears]], though there are other races) whose world is under threat from a horrible disease that makes those who catch it [[TakenForGranite turn to stone.]] Seems like standard fantasy fare, until Captain Ronyx J. Kenny and his Number One Ilia Silvestri from the Terran Alliance beam down to the planet to investigate. The stone disease is much more than what it seems, not just for Roak but other planets as well....

----!!This game provides examples of:

* AbandonedMine: An optional area hidden in Mt. Metox is an abandoned mine filled with super-tough enemies and high value loot.* ActionGirl: Ilia, Phia* AlienBlood: A major plot point in ''Star Ocean'' is that Fellpool blood is copper-based. You'd think this would make them have blueish skin, but all they show for it are their tails. How copper-based blood is supposed to make things invisible is anyone's guess.** Though Fellpool blood, like [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcan]] copper-based blood, is actually green anyway.* TheAtoner: Erys* AttractiveBentGender: Millie and Pericci try to invoke this on Ioshua, but he runs away before they can give him a makeover. They mention their disappointment, as they believe he would look gorgeous in women's clothing.* {{Bishonen}}: Some of the male cast, but especially Ioshua, even ingame characters said he is pretty.* BlackMagicianGirl: Erys, even though she's TheRedMage.* BlindWithoutEm: T'nique* BloodKnight: Cyuss* CallingYourAttacks: Not just attacks, heals and special abilities are called too.* [[CatGirl Cat People]]: Fellpool, Lesser Fellpool, and Highlanders; more so with the Lesser Fellpool with their cat ears and ability to shapeshift into a cat, while the former look like pointy-eared tailed humanoids. Highlanders are based on big cats (tigers in particular) rather than the usual housecats. (Note that in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'', regular Fellpool, at least the ones on Expel, are portrayed as cat people, with the party member Leon in that game being a [[SpearCounterpart cat boy]] in everything but name.)** The third game' encycopedia reveals Expel's amount of genes being mixed up results in occasional cases of Cat people.* CrutchCharacter: Ashlay is a textbook Crutch Character. However, the updated remake gives you one utility over recruiting him instead of the much potential-filled Cyuss: He lets you recruit Erys and also lets Roddick gain some better abilities. In the remake, he is still quite viable endgame save for his inability to use shields.* CuteAndPsycho: Erys, due to her past as a BrainwashedAndCrazy [[EnfantTerrible child assassin]] making her a bit of a NightmareFetishist with excitement on [[KillItWithFire making things burn or blow up]]. However, she doesn't like being one.* DarkSkinnedBlond: Dorne.* DependingOnTheArtist: The original game's art style depicted Roddick with a short ponytail. His hair has no accessories at all in the remake's art style, so no ponytail.* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Asmodeus]]* DualWielding: Phia only ''looks'' like she does this, as her battle sprite dual-wields daggers, but she can equip only one dagger at a time. In fact, she's the only character other than Roddick that can equip shields.* EvilOverlord: Jie Revorse.* EyesAlwaysShut: Dorne.* FanTranslation: Until 2008, this was the only way to play this game in English.* FieryRedhead: Phia* FirstContact: Inverted.* FreakyFridayFlip: [[spoiler: Mavelle]] is really [[spoiler: Erys]].* GeniusBruiser: Ilia Silvestri managed to become a maritial arts master while simultaneously getting her PHD by the age of 23.* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: Revorse seems to come out of nowhere and have little to do with the previous plot in the original version. The remake did a better job of tying him in to the main plot.** Hell, [[spoiler:Jie Revorse himself might count. For well over three fourths of the game, Asmodeus is clearly built up to be the BigBad, but once he's defeated, the plot basically goes "Oh yeah, by the way, there's this evil alien warlord who'[s never been mentioned until now in the present trying to conquer the galaxy. Go stop him."]]* {{Gonk}}: Madam Karner. The way she looks, her pose on the chaise, and how she buys and sells information makes her seem like a female Hutt.* GuideDangIt: The average player may waltz right through the game and miss many characters simply because they choose to accept others. The real title goes to [[spoiler: Erys]] however - an addition to the PSP remake, who requires ''three other characters recruited'' while two of them make sense ([[ItMakesSenseInContext if you know what their stories are]]), the third is [[LostForever easily missable]] and has ''no connection'' to these two. * GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Inverted when it comes to Ronyx and Ilia. Ilia is the martial artist, while Ronyx is both the archer and offensive mage.* HandicappedBadass: Crutch character he may be; Ashley is 50-60 years old and has lost his left arm but can still keep up with the rest of the party and go head to head with some of the nastiest monsters Roak has to offer.* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: It seems odd before playing ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'' that Ilia is surprisingly knowledgeable about the local beverages given that she's ''300 years in the past on an undeveloped planet'', but that game shows that people from Earth knew about Roak at least several years before Asmodeus's defeat and that Earth's humans (including the party in that game) have set foot on it, so she probably just paid an unusual amount of attention to the history of Roak's cuisine in school.* ImprobableWeaponUser: Welch, who fights with handy sticks. * InterfaceSpoiler: Of the three characters you start with, two of them gain new spells/abilities as they level up, while the third doesn't. Guess which one of them spends the game TakenForGranite.* LadyOfBlackMagic: Mavelle is an odd example. Her special attacks are treated like the specials of the physical characters, but behave like spells.* LaserBlade: The Force Swords, a double {{shout out}} to ''StarWars''. [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope The fourth game]] explains their origins.]]* {{Mordor}}: The planet Fargett, which is run by the previously mentioned Jie Revorse.* {{Ninja}}: Phia* OneHandedZweihander: Ashlay, [[JustifiedTrope not that he has any other option since he lost an arm]].* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Neo Revorse]]* OptionalPartyMember: Everyone else other than Roddick, Dorne, Millie, Ronyx, and Ilia.* PantheraAwesome: Highlanders are the evolutionary descendants of big cats, unlike their Felpool cousins who evolved from little cats. They are correspondingly larger and more robust.* PettingZooPeople: Fellpools are humanlike in appearance, but have heightened senses and tails like cats.* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: The AbandonedMine in Mt. Metorx, but only for a short while. The first time you can access it any enemy will kill you in one hit. When you are able to handle the enemies there, though, it's only a short time until you move on to more lucrative ones in terms of experience.* PinkGirlBlueBoy: As seen in the image, Roddick has blue hair, while Millie's is pink.* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler: Mavelle]] is, though in this case, it is just the body since she is actually [[spoiler: Erys]] inside. Welch show up in several Star Ocean games, which are all years apart in the timeline, yet looks all the same anywhere.* RockBeatsLaser: The reason that Ronyx and Ilia recruited the Roakians for the final mission is because [[spoiler:Jie Revorse]] has made himself immune to modern weaponry.* SecretCharacter: ** You probably [[GuideDangIt need a guide]] in order to get Welch, T'nique, Pericci, and Erys. You ''might'' be able to run into Welch by yourself as she is the easiest of the characters to recruit.[[note]]T'Nique requires you to have six characters in your party by a certain point, then for no discernible reason, run back to an early town. Pericci requires you to do something ''very'' early in the game and then backtrack to find her. Erys meanwhile requires you to recruit a specific set of characters, one of which has ''no relation to her whatsoever''.[[/note]] ** Ashlay may also count; however to be fair you can discover him by poking around the town he's in, and he does give a very strong hint that he's playable. * ShipperOnDeck: ''Everyone'' for Ronyx/Ilia. Even Millie, who makes a ThisAndThat joke regarding her training of Ronyx in Symbology seemingly to irritate Ilia. She tries to persuade Ilia to reveal her feelings for Ronyx, but Ilia doesn't go through with it. Finally, though, when Ronyx does make his move, everyone's peeping in the jewelry shop until they scatter in a LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone moment. Talking to each of your party members shows how long they waited for the two of them to finally end up together.* ShoutOut: The Cave of The Seven Stars' background music is exactly the same as that in the Seraphic Gate of ''ValkyrieProfile''.** Also, a character named [[AuraBattlerDunbine Marvel Frozen]].** [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Tinek]] is more or less a meta-reference to ''RanmaOneHalf''.** Toward the end of the game, you get what is ''clearly'' a [[StarWars lightsaber]], called the Force Sword.* {{Tsundere}} - Millie from ''First Departure'' is a type-B example: usually sweet and bubbly, but has a short temper when it comes to Roddick and Dorn.** Ilia too, sometimes. Check out her reaction when you meet up with Millie again, and she explains that the captain is "escorting" Marvel. And then blithely starts to explain how beautiful Marvel is.** Phia is one towards Cyuss.* VideoGameRemake: ''First Departure''* WhatTheHellHero: Phia calls out Cyuss for [[spoiler:abandoning his duties as their nations prince and running off to play mercenary.]]* WingedHumanoid: The Featherfolk race.* WitchSpecies: While all three varieties of Felpool require [[PowerTatto special tattoos]] to use symbology, Featherfolk have the necessary symbols etched into their very DNA, so most, if not all, are naturally capable of using symbology.* WolfMan: T'nique* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: And T'nique even has blue fur in werewolf form.* ZettaiRyouiki: Millie, at least in the [[VideoGameRemake remake]]. ----